You are here: Home / Statistics / Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics / Census and People of the 1916 Rising / Census and Women of the Rising / Mary and Muriel MacSwiney

Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics

Mary and Muriel MacSwiney

Open in Excel:

Mary and Muriel MacSwiney

Mary MacSwiney (1872-1942)

Photo: Mary MacSwiney

Aged 39 at the time of the 1911 Census

Census 1911 Address: 66, Knockrea, Cork¹

Mary made her Census return in Irish and recorded herself as Máire nic Suibhne. She returned the form as head of family and also included on the form are her younger brothers, Terence and Seán. Mary was aged 39 at the time of the 1911 Census and her occupation was listed as a teacher or múinteoir. Her brother Terence or Toirdealbhachis was aged 32 and youngest brother Seán or Seaghan was 24.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Blackrock/Knockrea/401536/

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001896413/

Mary MacSwiney was born in England to an Irish father and English mother and the family returned to Cork when she was six. She subsequently returned to England and obtained a teaching diploma in Cambridge University. Mary returned to Cork to look after her family on the death of her mother in 1904 and took a post teaching at St. Angela’s school. She was a founder of the Cork branch of Cumann na mBan in 1914 and was a member of the Munster Women’s Franchise League and also joined Inghinidhe na hÉireann.

In 1916 Mary was imprisoned following the 1916 Rising and lost her teaching post. On her release she formed her own school, Scoil Íte. Her brother Terence died on hunger strike in 1921. Mary was elected for Sinn Féin to the Dáil in 1921. She spent the next few months touring America with Muriel, Terence MacSwiney’s widow, raising funds and giving interviews. She was opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and was arrested twice in 1922 and each time went on hunger strike. She kept her seat in the 1923 election but refused to enter the Dáil. She lost her seat in the 1927 election.

Member of the Oireachtas

http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?MemberName=Mary+MacSwiney&disp=src&housetype=0&HouseNum=1&ConstID=36&ac=1

Muriel MacSwiney

Photo: Muriel MacSwiney

Muriel Murphy married Terence MacSwiney in 1917 against her family’s wishes. He came from an impoverished background while Muriel was the daughter of the wealthy Murphy family, one branch owned the Midleton Distillery in Cork while another branch of the family were involved in brewing beer. Muriel and Terence had one child, Máire, who was born in 1918. Terence MacSwiney was imprisioned in Brixton Prison in England in 1920 while he was Lord Mayor of Cork and he died there after being on hunger strike for 74 days. Muriel MacSwiney was the first woman to receive the Freedom of New York when she travelled there with Mary MacSwiney in 1922. Muriel left Ireland in 1923 with her baby daughter to live in Germany where she was receiving medical treatment. Terence MacSwiney had named his sister as joint guardian of his child before he died. Máire returned to Ireland in 1932 to the care of her aunt Mary MacSwiney, Máire was unable to speak either English or Irish. She later married Ruairí Brugha, a son of Cathal Brugha. Máire died in 2012 aged 94.

At the time of the 1911 Census Muriel was in school in England but here we have a Census return for her cousin.

Census 1911 Address: 38 Mahon (Blackrock, Cork)¹

This is the 1911 Census return for Muriel MacSwiney’s cousin James Murphy. The Census form recorded James, (aged 38 and a Distiller), his wife Mabel (29) and their daughter Dorothy (6). There are 4 servants in the household, Julia Harrington (24), a parlourmaid, Nora Barry (35), a cook who is proficient in Irish and English, Flora Deurwaarder (26) a governess from Jamaica and Kate Mahon (70), a general domestic. All the residents in the household were Roman Catholic. The house and building return for this Census form shows that James Murphy and his family lived in a house with 30 rooms.